Complete video of the meeting is available just below this article once it is processed.

Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Director Mary Godwin told the court that she and  Mayor Terry Oliver had met with the director of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program in Little Rock to ask that the preservation easement be lifted on acreage near the Love's Travel Stop. She said the director “agreed to it,” which she described as a major step forward after years of restrictions on the property.

Godwin explained that the next steps would involve rewriting the easement, securing federal approval and completing an archaeological survey. She said the state official had warned that the survey could halt the project if it uncovered “bones,” or “arrowheads and pottery in one big area or Indian mounds.” She estimated the survey “would probably cost about $50,000,” though she and Depot Museum Director Jamie Simmons were already seeking help from state archeologist Carl Drexler of Magnolia, to reduce that cost.

Judge Mike Otwell and several justices asked how land trades might work if the federal government required replacement acreage. JP James Cornelius said some nearby landowners may be willing to divide property in the past and suggested that “they should piecemeal the spot on the backside” if needed. Godwin replied that any traded land “has to join the land” already under preservation and that the county would eventually need to locate money to pay for that land. She said the state’s agreement to release the easement was significant progress, adding that “we were just ecstatic that the state agreed to release the preservation,” because if they had refused, a business interested in locating near Exit 46 might opt out.

The court spent more than twenty minutes considering potential commercial interest in the area, the county’s need for restaurants and the long‑term economic potential of development near the interstate.

Godwin then reported on efforts to extend fiber broadband to households that still lack a designated service provider. She said the county had mailed letters to all affected residents and that the list behind the sample letter given to the JPs before the meeting showed “the names of the people here in Nevada County” who currently have no provider assigned by the state broadband office. 

She said Brightspeed had since agreed to serve “about 11 to 12 of them,” and that South Central Connect had contacted her seeking an easement along Wildcat Road so they could reach “40 to 50 more of these people" who live outside the Prescott city limits. Judge Otwell said the county would need to review existing easements, noting that “there’s one even already out there,” and that the county would “have to find out how that ball will play” before granting new access.

County Treasurer Lorelai Hale told the court that the county had finally received some long‑delayed jail revenue from the state of Arkansas. At least part of the payment, she explained, was part of the federal reimbursement owed to the county following last year’s shutdown of the jail’s cooling system. 

Prescott‑Nevada County Chamber of Commerce Director Valarie Cobb reported on recent and upcoming events. She said the Master Gardener sale “was like your Black Friday shopping,” and that she had been told before she shopped there herself that she “needed to plan, and I did not have a plan, but I got what I wanted.” 

Cobb also described the community revitalization meeting held earlier in April, saying the speakers “gave us ideas of things that we can do here in our community… to make us better, make us grow, get business here.” She said the chamber would register for the Great Arkansas Cleanup which will take place this fall and hoped to revive the tradition of awarding scholarships to one Prescott and one Nevada High School student. She listed several events scheduled for later in the month and said of the chamber awards banquet to take place April 30th at the Prescott Junior High cafeteria, “we sold out of tables."

County Extension Agent Sheila Ballard reported a busy spring schedule and invited members of the court and the audience to volunteer at the upcoming “Quick Real” financial‑literacy simulation for area students. She said the program requires volunteers to run simulation booths as students move through 12 stations purchasing insurance, housing, transportation and other monthly expenses. She said “We've got 140 or more kids … going through this in a matter of four hours,” and that she could “use all the help I can get.” 

She also reported on recent cooking classes, an upcoming estate‑planning program and the success of the Master Gardener plant sale, where “we had over 1000 plants… and it was like Kmart shoppers… you couldn’t even get down the aisle.”

Other important items from the meeting included:

• Judge Otwell reporting that a trash‑truck fire caused by a discarded drill battery had “toasted” the truck’s back-end system and that insurance adjusters would determine whether it was a total loss.
• County Clerk Tammie Rose read audit findings requiring corrective action on past landfill‑board operations and unauthorized withdrawals from the treasurer’s account during last year’s hacking incident.
• JP Dennis Pruitt announced he would attend the Association of Arkansas Counties JP meeting in Little Rock on Saturday.
• JP Patricia Grimes raised concerns about enforcement of the state’s animal‑cruelty law after a report that “somebody had shot a cat” with a bow and arrow and neither city of Prescott nor Nevada County law enforcement responded.